Faith
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: John Locke is sickening for something in the prelude of Michael fleeing the camp. Jack is concerned, but the team needs to find Michael before its too late, and find out what's going on... but can Jack convince Locke to let him treat him?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Hey Locke, you alright?" Jack asked as he watched the other man beginning to come round, placing one warm palm to the side of his head as he struggled to sit up.

"What happened?" Locke asked.

"Michael knocked you out…" He explained, moving slightly closer to take a look at his somewhat older companion. "Look over here." He instructed him as he began waggle his finger from side to side in front of Locke's face, checking to see how his pupils responded to changing stimuli. "You feeling nauseated? Sick?" He asked.

Locke shook his head. "No, no, I think I'm alright."

"You're very hot." Jack observed with a frown, as he got close enough to feel the heat radiating off the other man's body, placing a palm to Locke's forehead and withdrawing it quickly as he felt the furnace of flesh beneath his skin. "John are you sure you're alright?"

Locke nodded.

"Well, if you're sure," Jack nodded, although still unconvinced, "do you think you could give me a bunk up?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"No Sawyer, you're still on antibiotics." Jack argued with the stubborn southerner close to an hour later as he argued to be able to join in the search for Michael.

"Well it's a good thing I'm travelling with my doctor then isn't it?" Sawyer drawled in his thick country accent.

"Ready?" Locke asked.

Jack turned to the slightly older man and frowned. "You're not going anywhere John!" He objected. "I don't like the feel of that fever!" He explained, his medical interests now very much aroused by the prospect of a new patient, and his concern building. "I'd like to take a look at you!"

"We don't have time for that Jack!" Locke exclaimed however. "If you want to find Michael. We need to make a start whilst we've still got the day on out side, and he's already got a head start on us."

"I'm not happy about this." Jack sighed.

"Well if you've got any better ideas Jack I'd like to hear them!" Locke pressed the young doctor with stubborn determination. "Because from where I'm standing right now I'm the only one with enough experience to track Michael."

"I'll do it." Kate suddenly cut in however.

"What?" Jack frowned.

"I said I'll do it!" She replied.

"No Kate, you're not coming with us!" Jack exclaimed.

Kate looked at him, a look of both bewilderment and surprise registered upon her young face at this.

"What? Why?" She demanded.

"I said no!" Jack barked.

"Shall we go then?" Locked asked, cutting in on the couple's ensuing argument, and Jack turned to look at him.

"Fine." The young doctor sighed, clearly exacerbated by the situation, as he relented. "But you listen to me, both of you." He said, indicating Sawyer. "If I sat we rest, we rest. If I say we turn back, we turn back!"

Both of them looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's get going then." Jack sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A few miles into the journey, as the small group continued their relentless hunt for Michael, Jack finally sighed.

"Let's rest here a while." He instructed, as he threw the heavy backpack he'd been carrying off his back, and Sawyer slumped down on the ground beside him, grateful for the rest from walking. Locke continued to trek on a little further, before finally coming to a halt a few metres ahead of them.

Kneeling down Jack unzipped the rucksack to remove a small pill bottle, shaking one of only a few tiny white pills out into the palm of his hand, and replacing the small transparent prescription pill bottle into a tiny pouch on this inside of the backpack.

"Here." He said, handing it out to Sawyer, who took it and swallowed it down without uttering so much as a thank you to the doctor.

Jack sighed, turning to glance at Locke, who was still standing with his back to them. He reached for a fresh bottle of drinking water from the depths of his backpack and made his way over – placing his cool palm to Locke's forehead to check the progression of his temperature as he approached.

"Your fevers getting worse John." He sighed as he felt the burning heat of the flesh beneath his palm, before withdrawing it with a frown. "How do you feel?"

"A little achy." Locke responded. "I'm beginning to feel a little colder."

"I think it's probably just a virus." Jack observed. "Here, drink this." He spoke, offering Jack the water.

Locke accepted it gratefully.

"Tell me Locke," Jack continued however, a distinct note of curiosity beginning to prickle in his voice. "What makes you feel this is all happening for a reason?" He asked, indicating the dense overgrowth of thick forest and seemingly eternal greenery surrounding them. "How can you find it so easy after everything that's happened?"

"It's never been easy Jack…" Locke frowned. "You have to understand, all I've ever had is faith and belief… faith that my mother was a good woman, that she gave me up so I could have a better life, the belief that she would come back for me someday. Faith that one day I'd be able to walk again, that my father would get what he rightly deserved. You see, if I don't have faith, what else is there?"

Jack frowned.

"I'm sorry Locke… I had no idea."

"Don't be." Locke smiled. "I'm not, just don't be too quick to jump to conclusions Jack. Open your eyes to what's going on around you, sometimes things really do happen for a reason. You're a man of science Jack, I'm a man of faith. I've never placed too much belief in science myself, but maybe we could learn a lot from each other."

"Live together, die alone you mean?" Jack asked.

"You said it Jack." Locke smiled.

A brief smile appeared to flicker across the young doctor's face with this, before as quickly as it appeared it had gone.

"We'd better press on." He observed, looking around critically at the clouds beginning to gather in the sky above their heads.

Locke nodded. "The night will be beginning to draw in soon." He observed. "I'd say wee have at least another couple of hours of daylight on our side though."

"The last thing we need is to still be stuck out here when it gets dark." Jack sighed.

"Just remember Jack." Locke smiled wisely as the young doctor turned to go. "Sometimes it is better to trust your instincts over blind reason and logic, or simple scientific fact. Remember, not everything is always as it seems."


End file.
